Arvid Lindblad earns commanding first F2 pole at Barcelona

Photo: Red Bull / Dutch Photo Agency

Arvid Lindblad earned his first Formula 2 pole position in commanding style after topping Barcelona qualifying ahead of Sebastian Montoya.

Lindblad jumped back to the top of the times with his final lap of the session, managing a time of 1m25.180s with three fastest sectors.

The field split into two for their first runs of the session. Of the first unofficial group, Leonardo Fornaroli was fastest ahead of Alex Dunne and Roman Stanek.

Lindblad then jumped to the top of the times as the rest of the field completed their runs, 0.263 seconds ahead of Fornaroli.

The time looked unbeatable through most of the second half of the session, with Kush Maini jumping to second late on, just 0.018s off Lindblad’s earlier time. Montoya eventually knocked Lindblad off the top spot, setting a purple first sector on his way to a lap time just 0.085s quicker.

This time wouldn’t last long though, as Lindblad crossed the line to reclaim pole position by 0.245s with his final lap. Nobody could respond and Lindblad became the sixth different polesitter of the season. 

Stanek finished qualifying fourth ahead of Alex Dunne, who received a three-place grid penalty for both races after an incident in free practice when he ran into the back of Victor Martins in the pits.

Richard Verschoor and Jack Crawford finished seventh and eighth. 

Championship leader Luke Browning had a quiet qualifying session, only managing to go eighth quickest ahead of Joshua Duerksen and Fornaroli. Duerksen was one of three drivers to have their first flying laps deleted for track limits. Pepe Marti also fell foul of track limits, along with Sami Meguetounif. Marti qualified just outside the top 10 in 11th.

Qualifying results